The present invention relates to an apparatus and method of tool storage and more particularly to portable tool storage using easily available containers.
The storage of long-handled tools has been approached from many angles ranging from simply leaning the tool in a corner to hanging the tools from a rack to providing a wheeled rack to allow portability.
The practice of leaning tools against a wall or corner is clearly the most inexpensive storage method, however, it is also the most inconvenient. Tools that are merely leaned against a wall can fall if not balanced property, and if many long-handled tools are stored together, a person wanting to select a particular tool will often have to sift through the array of handles, finding the desired tool by trial and error.
A tidier method of storage of similar simplicity to the leaning method involves placing the tools, handle down, in a large container such as a trash can. This method is particularly attractive in that people will not want to use a trash can for refuse if the can lid has been lost, which frequently occurs. This leaves an unused receptacle which can either be disposed of or be used for another purpose such as tool storage. The drawbacks of this method are that an array of tools is still cluttered such that it may require searching to find the desired tool, and the tools must be carefully balanced so that the weight will not shift to one side of the container causing it to tip over.
Wall-mounted racks are commonly available to neatly suspend the tools in a parallel manner which allows the desired tool to be readily selected. These racks lack portability which may be desired if multiple tools are to be used at a location remote from the storage rack. As a result, when multiple tools are taken to the work site, they will most likely be set aside in a disorganized array which presents the same problem as the first method.
Various types of tool carts are available for portable storage. These carts are convenient but can be relatively expensive and are likely to be used only by professionals or serious gardeners with a large yard to tend.
A reasonable compromise which provides a relatively inexpensive and portable storage means for use with a trash can or the like is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,298,532 issued to Wilcke. This device includes a two-piece combination of a lid with circular openings to receive a tool handle and a dome-shaped insert for the bottom of the container to maintain the tools in a generally vertical position. The disadvantage of such a device is that the lid must be made the exact size to fit the container and the insert must be made to be reasonably close in diameter to the bottom of the container. This requires than an individual set of supports be made for every possible container size.
It would be desirable to provide a simple and inexpensive means for tool storage which is portable and versatile enough to be adapted to fit a wide range of container sizes. It is to such an apparatus that the present invention is directed.